On desktop Flash applications, the Tab and Shift+Tab keys let users switch focus among objects on the screen. The arrow keys function in a similar way in some other applications. In Flash Lite, the navigation keys on the device's navigation keypad serve the same purpose as the arrow or Tab and Shift+Tab keys in a Flash desktop application. After the desired object has focus, the user can press the select key to trigger an action in the application. You define event handlers to respond when a button or movie clip is selected; for more information, see Handling button events.

Default navigation in Flash Lite works with buttons and input text fields. Movie clips are also included if their tabEnabled property is set to true, or if they have event handlers associated with them and their tabEnabled property is not set to false.

When an input text field has focus and the user presses the select key, Flash Lite opens the device's generic text input dialog box, in which the user can enter text.

For an example of using default navigation, see Create a simple menu using buttons and default navigation.